Great Railroad Strike Dbq

As the rich became richer and the poor became poorer, it was realized by the laborers of the railroad that their nation's economic growth and prosperity was not being equally shared among the people. Coupled with years of wage cuts (35% over 3 years), and workforce reductions, that then required remaining workers to work 15-18 hour days, the workers fought back.

Because of the rising change of social and industry they kind of caused friction towards political views. Miners and steelworkers were the first workers to use the strike ad a bargaining tool against their business owners.

The Great Railroad strike occurred in 1877 and started in Martinsburg, West Virginia. The original incident was when major railroad companies announced that there would be another wage cut of ten percent, after workers’ wages were already slashed during the financial panic of 1873. This economic downfall caused hundreds of laborers to leave their jobs and go on strike. The word spread to cities across the country that railroad workers were striking causing a domino effect of strikes within other railroad companies as well as other professions. The initial strike led to violence causing the loss of

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 manifested into the first of a series of labor strikes in the United States and the first general strike of the nation. Working on the railroads, labor workers already had poor working conditions and low wages. However, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) had made its second wage cut in the past eight months; both cuts by ten percent. In response to this, labor workers refused to allow any freight trains to roll in and out of the station until the restoration of their original wages. The railroad strikers included individuals from railroad workers to other labor sympathizers alike. The Great Strike of 1877 succeeded for the labor economy because of the large number of labor supporters, the overpowering of the militia, and the power of initiative from the people.

Despite being able to cause a small improvement in workers’ pay and hours, labor unions ultimately died out by the 1900s due to their methods. Unable to truly focus on the plight of skilled workers, most labor unions instead focused on that of unskilled workers, pushing aside the skilled workers. (Doc D). The actions of labor unions ended up being counterproductive, forcing companies to wage war against the labor unions. These stricter contracts such as that of Western Union Telegraph Company, forced workers to affiliate themselves against labor unions. (Doc E) One important thing to note is that the workers’ rights advocates were never able to coincide on one factor. As evidenced in an illustration in 1887, labor unions had to compete with other movements such as socialism, anarchism, and other labor unions. (Doc F). Because of this, the media, although recognizing the labor union movement, began viewing the labor unions as dangerous entities. Although the initial strikes such as the Wabash strike were successful, the ones that followed proved detrimental to the movement, and caused the steady decline of the labor unions. Because some of the strikes were dangerous, many strikes resulted in the deaths of those involved, such as the Homestead Crisis, and Pinkerton (Doc G). Combined with events such as the Wildcat strike, Haymarket strike, the Pullman Strike, the public began to associate a negative

After the Civil War ended the United States moved into a period referred to as the Gilded Age. The Gilded Age brought to America a rapidly growing economy lead and dominated by the heads of industry and finance. As the economy grew, so did the population which would result in a higher demand for labor and jobs to provide the growing families of America. As more and more jobs were created, the working class would begin to see a decline in working conditions. These poor and worsening conditions left workers upset, exhausted, sick, and in some cases conditions were so terrible that many people died while simply doing their job. When workers turned to government for help, it was most often the case that government would side with the employer in order to keep the economy growing. This neglect by both the government and employers would eventually lead for workers to find their own solutions. This came in the form of the steady rise of organized groups of workers who would gather to protest for change, or labor unions. Though not all labor unions had similar philosophies, they all fought for what they believed they rightly deserved. Americans formed labor unions to fight for safer working conditions, better wages, and reasonable working hours. Labor unions such as The Knights of Labor and The American Federation of Labor gained popularity during this time and achieved varying levels of success for their cause. It was not only Anglo men at the time who made up the working class

As stated, many labor unions that were created utilized strikes to negotiate and come to a compromise between business leaders and their workers. However, it got to the point where they were being overused, and starting to turn very violent. The first time this had occurred is the Great Strike in the year of 1877. It occurred in the city of Baltimore, where workers from the Ohio Railroad company were on strike due to their pay checks being cut. However, a compromise was unable to be in a timely manner, causing the railroad system to come to a halt. This delay lasted for about a week or two, even causing the federal government to get involved as the economy and commerce was being greatly affected by this. To bring an end to this, the President,

The Pullman strike was a violent 1894 railway workers’ strike which began outside of Chicago and spread nationwide. The Pullman strike escalated, halting both railroad traffic and mail delivery. Railroad owners cited that Sherman Antitrust Act to argue that the union was illegally disputing free trade. President Grover Cleveland sent in federal troops, ending the strike dozen people were killed in violent clashes in the streets of Chicago, where the strike was centered. When he refused governments order to end the strike, Eugene Debs was imprisoned for conspiring against interstate commerce. Though Debs appealed the conviction, claiming that the government had no right to halt the strike. The strike was a bitter battle between workers and company

The labor movement began sometime in the 19th century. Many groups such as the National Labor Union were founded. Although the NLU wasn't successful, it helped bring other groups about. One of these groups being the Knights of Labor in 1869. This group had about 700,000 members and were focused on addressing important issues such as an 8 hour workday and opposition to child labor. Because there was no set rules as too how much to pay workers and how long they should work, it lead to many employers abusing their employees. Eventually workers got tired and decided to take matters into their own hands. This led to many strikes such the Haymarket Square Riot and the Homestead Strike. The Haymarket Square Riot took place on May 4, 1886 in Chicago. Thousands of workers gathered to march for an 8 hour work day however protests got violent. For example a bomb was thrown, 8 "anarchists" were arrested for murder for murder and 4 of them were executed. The Homestead Strike wasn't pretty either. The Homestead Strike took place in Homestead, Pennsylvania on June 30, 1892. Before the strike, the Amalgamated Association formed in 1876, which was a union for iron and steel workers. By 1889 the Amalgamated Association already won two big strikes against the Carnegie Company, became powerful and organized and had a strong union contract. However, on June 29, 1892 the old contract expired without Henry Frick and the

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 was America’s first nationwide strike. The strike was a result of a 10 percent pay deduction by four of the largest railroads. “Nearly 100,000 workers were idled and approximately two-thirds of the railroad mileage across the Unites States was shut down with over 14 states and ten railroads involved” (AP Study Notes: Rise of Unions). President Hayes eventually sent troops to coral the strikers but they were so unorganized that they eventually stopped and went back to work.

The UAW went on strike nationwide for a period of 113 days against the General Motor. After the World War II, for the returning of the Vets, they could find any job, everything were low paying job. American workers went to strike from 1945 to 1946.

Damages of that failed strike led to the creation of a forty plus year deficiency and elimination of labor organization within the steel mill trade workers union and industry. Carnegie declared a mandatory elimination of any union participants with in his holdings. He utilized the strike’s events as reason to completely de-unionize the rest of his plants. The lack of the union’s protection gave way to the declining working conditions for the steelworkers. By 1919 steelworkers are said to have (1) “worked longer hours than any other comparable profession. An average coal miner worked fifty-two hours per week, a railroad man forty-eight hours per week and a construction worker did forty-four hours per week, more than fifty percent of steelworkers worked seventy-two hours per week.” Further, it took until 1936 for labor unions for skilled trades to become plausible

Throughout the early 1900s, working-class men and women struggled to survive. Factory owners exploited their employees, requiring them to work unreasonably long hours in unsafe environments for little pay. Since working-class men and women were often poor, they relied on their jobs to generate an income. However, the conditions in which they were forced to work infuriated them. Machines in factories were typically unsafe, and workers hardly received any break time. As a result, working-class men and women began to form unions, like the Industrial Workers of the World, in an attempt to gain power over inconsiderate factory owners and fight for more rights. The work of unions to receive better treatment from their employers initiated the Worker’s

The industrialization of the early 1900s made it so that machines can do what artisans did at a much faster rate for a lot less money, which made companies more profit. The biggest strike happened in the post WW1 era of 1919 where the building and metal trades workers of Winnipeg went on a general strike. This was different from a regular strike as this strike consisted of a multitude of workers from all different areas of that field. Although the strike failed, it displayed the potential that a union has when a group solidarity is formed. With the amount of strikes peaking in the mid 1970s, the recession of the 1980s and 1990s weakened the overall number of strikes as recessions normally discouraged workers from

The production of new machinery and the improvements being made in technology began to reduce the number of workers that were necessary to complete tasks. This caused a rift between the people of the working class and the bourgeoisie, and ultimately paved the way for Trades Unions. These were formed with the direct intention of protecting the working man against the tyranny and neglect of the